This story is taken from Placer at sacbee.com.

He lost his legs, then found sense of purpose

A Roseville amputee devotes his life to helping the disabled.

By Kim Minugh -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, June 2, 2005

Not when he was told his legs had been amputated below the knees while he slumbered in a six-week coma. Not when he struggled to learn to walk for the second time in his life (this time, on artificial legs). Not even now, when he talks about all the things he used to do that he can't do now.

Adragna likes to joke that the optimism came from the painkillers. His friends say it comes from character.

"Really, that feeling (of optimism) has never gone away," said the 48-year-old Roseville resident. "I feel blessed to be alive."

Focusing on the future instead of the past, Adragna said he decided to spend his life - "my bonus period," he calls it - working full time and without pay to help other disabled people.

He has spent nearly nine months coordinating the first-ever Bayside Health & Disability Faire, which will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Bayside Church in Roseville.

The free event is designed to connect disabled people in the Sacramento region with information and services available to them in the area, as well as to have some "good, old-fashioned family fun," Adragna said.

"We want to show that Bayside cares about them, accepts them for who and what they are - and show them that with grace and love and care and giving," he said. "(We want) to say 'You're welcome here.' "

Adragna's new life path began in December 1995, when he battled vicious symptoms that doctors attributed to the flu. When he blacked out while being questioned in an urgent-care facility on Christmas Eve, he was admitted to the hospital and later diagnosed with septic shock syndrome, a bacterial blood infection that can lead to organ and respiratory failure.

He didn't wake up for six weeks. Even then, it took him two weeks to fully regain consciousness.

His entire hospital stay lasted about four months.

While in the coma, Adragna's body slowly shut down: his lungs, his kidneys, his circulation system. Diabetes complicated everything. A 107-degree fever, staph infection and gangrene set in. He lost his legs. His skin clung desperately to his 85-pound frame.

"Aside from that, I was doing great," he said.

In recalling the ordeal - which he is able to do because of a journal his ex-wife kept - Adragna is able to make light of it. He survived, after all, and that calls for joy.

At the time, however, his situation was grave. Doctors told his family he wouldn't make it, and if he did, he'd be a vegetable. The family kept hope, and Adragna pulled through.

The casualties include his legs, amputated below the knee; the tip of his left pinky finger; and his voice, which is now hushed and raspy because of damage to his vocal chords sustained during the coma.

Occasionally, Adragna must use crutches or a wheelchair when sores develop where his real and prosthetic legs meet. Tired of tackling the stairs, he and his wife, Melynda, a pediatric occupational therapist, are moving to a single-story house near their current home.

No longer can he run marathons or play racquetball. The gangrene left his fingertips numb, so his days of guitar-strumming are over. But Adragna doesn't dwell on his life of old.

"I just choose to focus on what I can do, not what I can't do," he said. "I'm really grateful for what I can do. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true."

The few times he gets frustrated - like when he gets left behind while walking with fast-paced friends - he said he remembers what could have happened. He could have died.

"It changes your whole perspective," he said.

He also attributes his optimism to his faith. Now, he wants to make sure other disabled people have access to that faith.

At Bayside Church, he runs a ministry for disabled people called "Through The Roof." The name refers to a biblical story in which some followers of Jesus, crowded out of a temple, lower their disabled friend through the roof and lay him at the feet of Jesus.

Adragna and 70 volunteers oversee access issues at Bayside, including rides to and from church services, wheelchair accessibility in the church and translators for the hearing impaired.

He also runs FirstFridayNite KidzKlub, a three-hour respite program for parents of disabled children. About 40 families are served.

Outside of Bayside, Adragna helps organize family retreats for the nonprofit Christian group Joni and Friends, as well as collect and distribute used mobility equipment for Wheels for the World, a service of Joni and Friends.

He also speaks to students in assemblies put on by A Touch of Understanding, a Granite Bay-based nonprofit that seeks to spread awareness and understanding of people with disabilities.

He is known there for taking off his legs and passing them around. "Make sure I get that back," he tells the kids.

"He seems to have just an endless sense of humor, even in a situation that can be so frustrating," said Leslie DeDora, executive director of A Touch of Understanding. "I get e-mails from him signed, 'Dan Dan the Legless Man.' "

DeDora said Adragna is honest and intelligent as well as humorous - "a wonderful combination," she said.

"It's a privilege for anyone to have Dan as a friend."

Jim Holst, outreach coordinator for Bayside Church, said Adragna's work there has benefited not only disabled members of the congregation, but the volunteers who work there.

"He has had so many obstacles in his life, and yet he has remained so positive, and that just shines through," Holst said. "That positive is just so contagious."

Despite his optimism, Adragna admitted the ghosts of his past still linger. He almost died, and he hasn't forgotten. But the constant reminder of his harrowing experience has made life all the more precious, he said.

"The thought that I shouldn't be here has always been on my mind," he said. "I'm in my bonus period. It's all icing on the cake."

BAYSIDE HEALTH & DISABILITY FAIRE

About the writer:

• The Bee's Kim Minugh can be reached at (916) 773-7359 or kminugh@sacbee.com.

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